I've had my Utopia razor for a couple of weeks and just gotten my EJ89 back from loan. My initial impression of the Utopia was so good that I suspected it could hold its own with the EJ. It did, but I deemed the shaves so close that I wouldn't give the blue ribbon to either one: both excellent shavers with a subtle difference in feel. I needed a tie breaker. Because using each razor (w/ same blade, of course!) on different days didn't give me a winner, I decided to double up. I shaved one side of my face with the Utopia and the other side with the EJ. Still no winner. Next, I tried mixing the doubles. First pass: side A with razor A, side B with razor B. Second pass: Side A with B, side B with A. Too close to call. There is no photo finish or instant replay and I am the only umpire. <sigh> ... I give up. SO... what do you guys do to break deadlocked razor battles? Admit defeat or what? NOTE: I can't help but think of the John Wayne quote from Rio Bravo: John T. Chance: It'd be pretty close. I'd hate to have to live on the difference.
I'm with Steve. I use so many razors in rotation (mainly SRs) that I rarely have the time to do side-by-side comparisons. I did do a DE comparison not too long ago (the "Dueling Mühles" thread) where I compared the two R41s, but generally I've never felt compelled enough to do it with many other razors. I was tempted at one time to possibly do a Slim vs Fat Boy or a FatBoy vs Futur , SuperSpeed vs Red Tip, Slant vs non-slant—but it never happened and I no longer own any of those DE razors.
If performance is equal, choose the one with other traits that are better- i.e. better grip, build quality, finish, ease of loading, etc. I only keep the razors that have different traits I like. Similar results? If one is funner to use but the other has better build quality, I keep them both. Similar results but not fun to use and lesser build quality, no reason to keep. I'm a shaver not a collector. I see no reason to rotate merely for the sake of it.
I can get good shaves from each and every of my razors. Use and enjoy them both. Even similar razors will display slight differences with enough use.
You received a UTOPIA with a head in the top 10-20% of its class. Some people received heads that had to be thrown away because they were so much out of specification. Most users received heads that would give good shaves but not as precise as the EJ or R class heads. If the head is that good, chalk it up to good fortune and use it with the handle it came with. As others have said "Rotation is good!"
Oh, yes! That's the exact case here: both excellent with apparent difference in feel. I think the difference is exactly what fuels my RAD! Looks like I really lucked out on the Utopia quality lottery. A similar thing happened to me several years ago with Chinese air rifles. You could pick up a single-cocking air rifle at the flea market for $20. Some would shoot around corners and others were laser beam accurate. Mine is more accurate than my vision and packs a whollop like a regular .22 rifle! I count myself lucky. (NOTE: Chinese air rifles have increased quality and gained reputation. Prices went up accordingly. You can't find flea market cheapies any more. I wonder if Pakistani razors will follow that pattern!) After starting this thread, I started mulling over my collection. Do I really want to cycle through 23 razors? I know a lot of you guys have way more razors than that! Some have pared it down to just a few. I suspect many have a single razor, but I would not expect a one-razor shaver to be the norm on a shaving forum! I think I can easily choose to keep both EJ and Utopia. I like my Krona better than SS Black Tip, so may let the SS go (yeah... I kinda need to regain some counter space). However, I feel a little conflicted about relinquishing a member of the Tech trio: pre-war, 60s, and Star. Similar for the Gillette adjustables. <CLICK!> OK... the light just came on. Apparently, unlike fram, I am a collector. <sigh> I'm not quite ready for a 12 step program... not yet... Y'all pray for me.
